Transwestern to manage Southfield Town Center for new owners

New York-based real estate company 601W Cos. purchased the Southfield Town Center complex in May.

New York City-based 601W Cos., the new owner of the 2.2 million-square-foot Southfield Town Center, has hired the Farmington Hills office of Houston-based Transwestern as the leasing and management company for the landmark five-building complex, which sold for $177.5 million in May.

Bill Harvey, senior vice president and city leader for Transwestern, said the former owner, New York City-based Blackstone Group LP, had been responsible for the complex’s management while the Southfield office of CBRE Inc. handled the leasing.

Transwestern also hired former CBRE brokers Clarence Gleeson II as senior vice president and Jason Dutcher as associate to “lead the charge” on leasing the complex, which is 68 percent occupied, Harvey said.

“Clarence was born with the project,” he said of Gleeson, who had handled leasing duties for the complex while at CBRE. “He knows it extremely well.”

There are also plans to hire an additional broker to the team, according to a news release.

The complex — the second-largest in metro Detroit behind the 5.5 million-square-foot Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit — is expected to receive between $40 million and $50 million in renovations, Michael Silberberg, 601W principal, said in a May interview with Crain’s.

“We hope to be announcing in the near future some of the more solid renovations,” Harvey said.

The architect on the renovation is Southfield-based Neumann/Smith Architecture, Harvey said.

Mike Watts, Midwest president of Transwestern, called the leasing and management deal “a monumental win.”

“Our existing team in Detroit has laid a solid foundation, and this assignment will allow us to expand and enhance that team,” he said.

Harvey also said that by the end of the year, Transwestern is expected to relocate its Farmington Hills office with about 40 employees into approximately 6,000 square feet in the Southfield Town Center.

Crain’s reported last month that a pair of large tenants — Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Detroit-based Ally Financial Inc. — are considering consolidating in or relocating to the complex, located north of 10 Mile Road between M-10 and Evergreen Road.